Fall 2022
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All colloquia are held via Zoom webinar from 12:00-1:00 pm ET
Recordings will be made available after the presentation
October 5th
Jennie Stephens presents: Diversifying Power: Why We Need Antiracist, Feminist Leadership on Climate and Energy
The injustices of the climate crisis require societal transformation. Climate policies that are transformative require integrating sacred, humanistic dimensions so that society can move beyond the narrow, patriarchal technocratic lens of climate isolationism that continues to dominate and be ineffective. Climate isolationism is a term that I use to refer to the common framing of climate change as an isolated, discrete, scientific problem in need of technological solutions. This framing evolves from the dominance of masculine, white supremacist values that disregard and dismiss the wisdom and experiences of “non-experts”. This way of thinking stems from assumptions of patriarchal conceptions of privilege and power that evolve from a colonizing and controlling mindset.
Climate isolationism has not only been ineffective in responding to the climate crisis and mobilizing transformative change but it has also resulted in climate and energy programs, policies, and priorities that exacerbate inequities and perpetuate economic and racial injustice. This talk explores the inadequacy and dangers of climate isolationism, explores why feminist and antiracist values are essential for transformation, and explains why diversifying different forms of knowledge and wisdom is essential to accelerate and expand the shift from climate isolationism to climate justice.
Jennie C. Stephens is the Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy at Northeastern’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. She is an internationally recognized expert on renewable energy transformation, energy justice, climate justice, energy democracy, and gender and race in energy and climate. Her most recent book, 'Diversifying Power: Why We Need Antiracist, Feminist Leadership' (Island Press, 2020), inspires collective action by elevating the stories of innovative diverse leaders who are linking climate and energy with jobs and economic justice, health and food, transportation and housing. She argues that the key to effectively addressing the climate crisis by mobilizing transformative change is to diversify leadership, redistribute wealth and power, and move beyond technocratic solutions so that feminist, antiracist priorities are at the core of all policy.
Before Northeastern, Professor Stephens was on the faculty at the University of Vermont (2014-2016) and Clark University (2005-2014). She earned her PhD at Caltech in environmental science & engineering and her BA at Harvard in environmental science & public policy. www.jenniecstephens.com @jenniecstephens
What is planetary gentrification (process)? Where in the world has it occurred (geography, spatiality)? When did it occur (temporality)? What have the impacts been (displacement)? And critically what might it’s future be like? These are all questions posed and discussed in Professor Lees’s wide ranging presentation.
Professor Loretta Lees is an urban geographer who is internationally known for her research on gentrification, urban regeneration, global urbanism, urban policy, urban public space, architecture and urban social theory. She has been identified as the top author internationally in gentrification studies (Uribe-Toril et al, 2018). She has just moved to Boston from the UK where she has lived and worked for the last 25 years to be the new Director of the Initiative on Cities at Boston University. She continues to co-organise The Urban Salon: A London forum for architecture, cities and international urbanism. She was Chair of the London Housing Panel 2020-22 working with the Mayor of London and Trust for London on housing issues and was the recipient of the 2022 Urban Affairs Association Marilyn J. Gittell Scholar-Activist Award for her work on anti-gentrification activism.
November 2nd
Rashad Williams presents: Three Models of Reparative Planning: A Comparative Analysis
As cities and states continue to experiment with reparations for the historical legacies of slavery and Jim Crow, an enduring question remains: how should subnational, particularly municipal, reparations be structured? To be sure, any formulation of reparative planning should certainly address the particularities of local context. More generally, though, reparative planning should -- and as this comparative analysis shows can -- address distributive, moral-symbolic, and structural injustices. In this comparative analysis, I discuss three actually existing models of reparative planning, linking each to debates within social and political theory.
Rashad Williams is an incoming assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. His interdisciplinary research crosses the boundaries of urban planning, urban politics, and the critical philosophy of race to study the urban expressions of the black reparations movement. He has coined the term reparative planning to describe the implementation of redress policies at the urban scale.
In this Cities@Tufts presentation, we turn the microphone around and interview Cities@Tufts colloquium host, Julian Agyeman. Join us as Julian reflects on the origins of the series, highlights some of the most memorable moments, and underscores the importance of Cities@Tufts as a cutting-edge, indispensable resource.
Julian Agyeman Ph.D. FRSA FRGS is a Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning and Fletcher Professor of Rhetoric and Debate at Tufts University. He is the originator of the increasingly influential concept of just sustainabilities, which explores the intersecting goals of social justice and environmental sustainability, and host of the Cities@Tufts lecture series.
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